Only If You Wear Nail Polish
by maggienhawk
Summary: GSR A reaction to a quote breaks the case


Author: Maggienhawk  
  
Title: Only If You Wear Nail Polish  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine, but if anyone knows where I can buy Nick.  
  
Summary: GSR. A reaction to a quote breaks the case.  
  
Since I met you.  
  
Those words had been running through Sara's mind for almost two years, and she still did not have a clue what they were supposed to mean coming out of Grissom's mouth. Especially when he said them. She had just put in for a leave of absence, so he sent her an orchid and said those words. What kind of hopelessly in love person could possibly leave after that? So she stayed, hoping every single day he might do something about 'this.' But he hadn't, not since he came back from his mysterious month long vacation a few months ago.  
  
'Maybe he just needed a break. We all know what this job can do to a person. He just wanted to decompress after all the high profile crap going on around Vegas. And the fact I asked him to dinner probably didn't help too much.' She really wasn't too mad about him declining her dinner invitation, at least not after he took the month vacation, but she was upset that he avoided her forever before and after that. She did realize her timing in the whole matter was pretty bad. Sara grimaced as she thought while supposedly reading a journal in the break room one night. Of course, at that exact moment Grissom walked in the door.  
  
"Something not to your liking in that journal, Miss Sidle?" He gave her a small half smile as he walked over to the coffee pot and began to pour some coffee.  
  
His voice startled her out of her thoughts, but she was confused at what he was talking about. "What?"  
  
"You were making a face, much like the expression you get when ever around meat."  
  
"Oh, I didn't realize. But no, nothing's wrong in the journal. I was just thinking about something." She turned back to the journal, figuring he would take her answer as such, like he normally did, and the conversation would end.  
  
"Is something bothering you?"  
  
Sara was speechless. "Yeah, but I think I can deal with it on my own."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Why are you asking me this?" Sara stated without thinking. 'Shit! Oh, well. It's now or never Sidle.' She thought as Grissom's face changed from his smile to one of pain.  
  
"I just wanted to be sure you are okay." Seeing Sara's somewhat skeptical look he continued. "Look, I realize that I haven't been a very good friend lately, and well, I'm trying to fix things in my life right now. And everything that's gone on between you and me is one of the biggest problems I've been facing."  
  
"Wow. I think I just learned more about you in that one sentence than I have in past two years." Sara smiled at him. He smiled back at her, somewhat sheepishly, but continued. "That's something else I'm trying to work on. Letting my friends know me a little better."  
  
"But not too much, right? Who would Grissom be if he wasn't mysterious?" Sara's smile grew, and she was actually enjoying this friendly conversation between them.  
  
"Exactly. So what are you doing here early?" Grissom knew she wasn't working on any active cases, so he was a little confused as to why she was at work.  
  
"Um, well, going a little stir crazy in my apartment, so I cam in looking to see if there were any cases that needed help. Of course, the criminals of Las Vegas took today off. What about you? Cause we know you don't have half as much paperwork as you did before Cavallo showed up?"  
  
"I was also going stir crazy and decided to come in." The two of them smiled at each other and their eyes locked. Sara noticed something in his eyes that she hadn't seen for a very long time. He was truly happy. "I've got a little bit of paperwork I need to sign off on, so I'll be in my office until shift starts." He smiled at her and walked out of the room.  
  
Sara just smiled and went back to her journal. Tonight was going to be a good night.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
About 40 minutes later, Grissom strolled into the break room. Sara was still reading her journal, Nick and Warrick were playing video games while Greg watched, and Catherine was leafing through a magazine. "Hey guys, ready for assignments?" He smiled at his co-workers.  
  
"Whoa Griss. What'd you do with our boss?" Warrick joked.  
  
Grissom just smiled and started handing out assignments. "Okay Catherine and Nick, you've got an apparent suicide. Suspicious circs, so be careful. Oh, and take Greg with you." He looked over to Greg, who was beaming and smiled at him. He continued, "Warrick, B&E. Sara, you and I have a DB at the Four Aces Motel." Four faces were stunned, and looked from one to each other and then to each Grissom and Sara. It was the first time in months that Grissom and Sara had worked alone together. Grissom just smirked and said, "Let's get to work everyone. Sara, I'll meet you at the Tahoe."  
  
She smiled. "Okay Griss." She looked around at everyone and then walked out of the break room to the locker room to grab her jacket, leaving four very confused coworkers in her midst.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After collecting what evidence they could find at the crime scene, Sara began questioning the victim's best friend. The victim had been strangled and there was little to work with, so she hoped talking to the last person who had talked to the victim alive would be of some help. "So Bethany, What was your relationship with the victim?"  
  
"I am, I mean, was Stephanie's best friend. We met in college and she was visiting me from Rhode Island for the week."  
  
"When did you last talk to her?"  
  
"Um, it was about four hours ago. She had called me to let me know that she would meet me at the Belagio in about an hour and a half. She wanted to paint her nails, let them dry, and then would be out the door. After three hours passed and I didn't hear from her I decided to come here and figure out what was going on. I knocked and the door was unlatched so I walked in and found her. And then I called the police." She started crying softly.  
  
"One last question, Bethany: Would there be anyone you can think of who would want to harm Stephanie?"  
  
"I don't think so. A lot of people liked her. She did just break up with her boyfriend of two years, but I don't think that he would hurt her."  
  
"Okay, thank you for all of your help tonight." Sara gave her a small sympathetic smile and walk over toward Grissom, who was talking to Brass.  
  
"Did you find anything out from the best friend?" Grissom asked.  
  
"Not too much. The victim was a tourist, well liked. This is going to be a tough one."  
  
"I know. We don't have too much physical evidence to go on." Grissom frowned slightly  
  
"We'll figure this one out, I'm sure of it."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Three days later, Grissom and Sara were no closer to figuring out who had killed Stephanie. The ex-boyfriend, who for some unknown reason was in Las Vegas the same time his ex-girlfriend was killed, had a weak alibi to his whereabouts. Unfortunately, the lack of physical evidence prevented them from getting a warrant to search his hotel room.  
  
Sara was sitting in one of the layout rooms going over the file, when Grissom walked into work that night. "Sara?"  
  
"Yeah Griss?"  
  
"How long have you been looking at that file?"  
  
"Only about a half an hour or so." Seeing his skeptical face, she answered the unasked question in his eyes. "No, I have not been here all day. I just got here and thought I would look over to see if there was something that might jump out at me. I know the ex-boyfriend did this, I just need to find the piece that will put him away."  
  
"I know you know this, but that piece may not be there."  
  
"I know Griss. It's just that I'm sick of seeing these sons of bitches get away with murder all the time."  
  
"Me too, Sara, me too. Sometimes I think I'm getting too old to deal with the emotions behind every case anymore." He looked to Sara, her eyes locked on him.  
  
"Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old." Sara said with a shy smile on her face, and then turned her face back down to the table.  
  
Grissom, to say the least, was stunned. 'This was probably how she felt when I slipped and said since I met you,' he thought to himself once his brain started functioning again. Once he recovered fully he replied to her statement, but related it to the case, "Well, if that's the case, then whoever loved this girl would stay young forever. All she wanted to do was have a 'girl's night out' with her best friend, look nice, and."  
  
He never finished the sentence because Sara bolted from the room. He followed her through the lab, until she had run all the way to the morgue. He followed her into the examination room, and heard her talking to Doc Robbins.  
  
"Is it possible to see Stephanie Walters body again, Doc? I just need to check something out."  
  
"Certainly Sara. Just give a few minutes to bring the body up."  
  
Grissom walked into the room and looked at Sara with a confused look on his face. "Would you mind telling me why you bolted here like that?"  
  
"Thank you so much for saying that she wanted to look nice. The approximate time of death was about 7pm, right?" At Grissom's small nod she continued. "So that was about 45 minutes after she told Bethany that she was going to paint her nails, and then meet her. The post autopsy photo showed that Stephanie's nails were indeed painted. So it got me thinking, if Stephanie had painted her nails, nail polish takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes to put on, and about 30 minutes to completely dry, then her fingernails would still be tacky, and might have picked up a partial from the killer during the apparent struggle."  
  
Grissom again looked at her completely stunned look, before realizing she might actually be on to something. She smirked at her and asked, "So how is it you know all about nail polish?"  
  
Sara gave a gap toothed grin. "Very funny, Grissom. I am a female and do know at least basic knowledge about beauty products." He smiled back at her. At that moment, Doc Robbins wheeled in the body.  
  
Sara pulled back the sheet near the victim's hands and examined the fingernails. The nail polished was smudged on nearly all of the fingers, but on the victim's left ring finger, there was almost a perfect print.  
  
Grissom looked at the print and smiled. "You have got to be kidding me. That had to be the most farfetched idea ever, and you just pulled it off."  
  
Sara began to laugh. "And you know it's a good thing that the ex- boyfriend's in AFIS for possession." She collected the print, thanked Doc Robbins, and she and Grissom walked back to the lab to give the print to Jacqui.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"You're joking! You did not nail him from a partial from fingernail polish!" Catherine exclaimed after Sara explained her find.  
  
"Yup. The ex was jealous and followed her out here thinking she was meeting another man. Must have grabbed her fingers in the struggle."  
  
"That's amazing. And you figured this out, Miss Sara 'I Don't Act Too Much Like A Girl' Sidle?"  
  
"Why is that that first thing everyone says? I do know how to be a girl!" Sara put on a mock angry face, but couldn't hold it when Catherine and Grissom started laughing, and she began laughing with them.  
  
When the laughter died down, Catherine started packing up her bag and shut her locker. "Well, I have to go put Lindsey on the bus. I'll see you two at shift tonight." She smiled at the two and walked out of the room.  
  
After a few moments of silence, as Grissom and Sara packed up their belongings and got ready to go home, Grissom finally spoke, "Sara, that was really great work today. I never would have thought of it."  
  
"Well, it was actually you, when you mentioned looking nice, remember?"  
  
"And I wouldn't have said it if you hadn't thrown that quote at me. I had never heard that one before. Cite your source."  
  
"Franz Kafka." Grissom nodded his approval and she quietly continued, "And I think you'll never be old, because you've even said it yourself, you can recognize beauty." Sara looked him in the eyes and saw the most revealing look she had ever seen in his eyes.  
  
His eyes reflected exactly what he was feeling. He was in love with her. Slowly, he walked up to her and caressed her cheek softly. "You are absolutely right. I can recognize beauty, and I am looking at the most beautiful person I have ever seen right this moment."  
  
Sara's hand reached up and grasped his on her face. She leaned towards him and their lips barely brushed across one another, both knowing that they were still at work. When they pulled back, they opened their closed eyes and stared into each other's depths, reading what the other was thinking. Sara was the first to break the silence. "Would you like to have dinner with me?"  
  
Grissom smiled at her. "Only if you wear nail polish."  
  
They both laughed and walked out of the building, hand in hand. 


End file.
